


Chatachresis

by Freedom_Shamrock



Series: BAMF Mari [12]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Awkwardrien, F/M, Fashion & Couture, Fluff, Innuendo, Reveal, Still Ladybug Without the Suit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 15:52:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16875720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freedom_Shamrock/pseuds/Freedom_Shamrock
Summary: Marinette helps Adrien out at a photoshoot, and butts heads with Gabriel.  Guess who wins.





	Chatachresis

**Author's Note:**

> This is for day 5 of my ML WIP-Completion December.

Adrien was already dressed and had been through hair and makeup. He sat, wrapped in a bathrobe, in his trailer, alternating between toying with the lucky charm in his pocket and twisting his ring.  He was not looking forward to this shoot starting, yet he also couldn't wait for it to be over. It gave him a particularly trapped feeling.

"Breathe, kid," Plagg said, licking his paws clean of the cheese he'd been snarfing. "She'll be here.  She promised."

There was a knock at the door. "Adrien," Nathalie called. "Your friend is here."

He really shouldn't feel so utterly relieved, especially considering what inevitably came next.

"Please come out and head to the set," Nathalie finished.

"Thanks, Nathalie.  I'll be right out." He held the robe's pocket open for Plagg, who darted in with his cell phone and the charm. The trailer's low pile carpet was rough against his bare soles, and the concrete was cool as he stepped onto it. Marinette stood nearby, fidgeting from foot to foot in the adorable wiggle Alya had been teasing her about for years. "Hey Mari." He raised a hand in a pathetic wave. "Thanks for coming."

"Glad to be here," she said with a warm smile. "I'm happy to help."

"Yeah, well I'm going to need it, and I trust you not to mock me about it later." She was really the only person he could have asked to be moral support.  Chloe would have been physically present but emotionally vacant. Nino would have spent the whole time laughing his ass off. It would probably be best to keep this shoot out of his friends' hands if at all possible.

Her smile faded as she took the arm he offered her. "You're right. I would never do that." She frowned a little. "I'm sorry you're not comfortable with the plan for this."

He shrugged.  "I think you're the only person who cares if I'm comfortable or not."

That brought out a full scowl. "Of course I care…"  She let out a huff. "You're going to be fabulous. I know it."

"Adrien," the crack of his name, delivered with displeasure, from the lips of his father made him suck in a breath. "Quit dawdling and get on set. It's unprofessional to keep everyone waiting."

"Yes father." He led Marinette to the side of the set, so she could be off screen but near him.

"I thought it wasn't scheduled to start for another five minutes," Marinette whispered.

"It's not." It was just his father's way of taking control of things and putting everyone off balance. He didn't bother to tell her that he didn't know his father was even here until just now.  Having Gabriel on the set always added an extra level of tension for the whole crew.

"We don't bring paramours to our shoots, Adrien," Gabriel chided in a tight voice.  "See that it doesn't happen again."

"Sir," Nathalie said quietly. "She's here as moral support. If you'll recall, I told you Adrien was uneasy with this shoot."

Gabriel let out a harumph.  "A professional model doesn't need moral support."

Adrien heard a very low snarl from Marinette, and he looked at her in surprise.

"Is he always this much of an asshat?" she asked.

Somehow her reaction made him happy. "Pretty much. Fortunately, he's not usually present for my shoots.  Or anything I do, actually." He shrugged; as he'd gotten older he'd found himself relieved whenever his father was absent.  He got Marinette to her stool, then fumbled with the tie on his robe. "Remember, no laughing."

"Promise," she insisted.

He whipped off the robe, handed it to her, and strode in front of the background without waiting to see her reaction, though he thought he caught a little hiss.  He was dressed in a tiny men's bikini swimsuit in black with two red hand prints, a left hand over his crotch and a right hand on his left buttcheek. That would have been bad enough, but for some reason his father had decided to pair it with a cropped black t-shirt with a translucent mesh inset in the front and back.

They started with the usual walking shots, aiming for the carefree guy at the beach, but that wasn't cutting it. The photographer requested a few positions, encouraging Adrien to relax and be comfortable. "It's all right, bello," the man called sympathetically. "We've all done this before, and you are as handsome as ever."

His father wasn't nearly as kind. "Stop slouching," he barked. "Oh for god's sake, Adrien. We're aiming for sexy and alluring man, not cowed teenager."  This continued for several more minutes as Adrien tried to provide what they wanted.

"That is quite enough," Marinette snapped, marching onto the set.  His princess had hit her limit for garbage. The way she moved reminded him of the akuma attack, smooth rolling gait, strength apparent in each step.

His father's eyes narrowed slightly. "Young woman, if you can not contain yourself--"

"Oh shut up, Gabriel," she snarled, and Adrien was surprised that he did. "I can't believe you, of all people, designed this travesty." She waved at Adrien's outfit. "And  **this** is what you've chosen for your son to wear, with no consideration for how he feels."

"He's a model," Gabriel said curtly. "Models do not choose the clothes, that's for the designer."

"Ugh, you're disgusting," she muttered before turning to Adrien and stepping close without crowding. "What do you want to do?" she asked quietly, her voice soothing over all the hurt of his father's criticism.  "Do you want to try to prove that you're capable of showing these designs well despite their inherent flaws, or do you want to walk out? It's your choice."

He stared at her in surprise.  He had a choice? He was never given choices. Her hands lightly wrapped around his, reassuring him while promising that she would step back if needed. He hated the swimsuit and everything it implied; he was seventeen and as far as anyone was aware, he'd never dated. But he was already here; everyone was here, and he couldn't inconvenience all of them. His father would turn awful, and someone would end up akumatized. "I… I want to prove that I can do this."

"You're sure?" she asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"I'm a professional," he insisted.  "I can do this."

"I know you're a professional, Adrien," she promised. "You've proven it time and again."

He heard his father's footsteps across the cement, growing closer. As his Gabriel reached out toward Marinette's shoulder, she simply turned her head, and whatever the look was on her face, it stopped his father cold.  His outstretched fingers twitched.

"If you touch me," she said in a low voice that probably couldn't be heard beyond the three of them, "no surgeon on this earth will be able to repair what I do to your hand. Are you interested to see how well you'd design left-handed?"

His father dropped his hand to his side, clearly furious but also obviously out-matched.

"You will back off, now," Marinette ordered him. "Adrien is willing to model your preposterous garments, without your entirely shit direction. If there's something you're looking for in this shoot, you will tell Vincent, who actually knows how to work with models."

Adrien watched in awe as his father scowled for a moment before stalking over to the photographer before returning to his place beside Nathalie.

"I'm going to work with you and Vincent to get the pictures he needs," Marinette said gently, turning back to him.  "Are you okay with that?"

Adrien nodded. "Thank you."

She smiled, and suddenly he felt like he could do anything.  "And you tell me if anything's too much, or if you need a break."

He shrugged. "I'd kind of like to just get it over with."

She reached out and ever so lightly tapped his nose.  It reminded him of Ladybug, affectionate and sweet. Then she turned away and walked over to Vincent.  They spoke for a moment, and he couldn't help but notice how happy the photographer seemed to be now that he was working with her instead of his father. She nodded a couple of times before heading back over to him.

He happened to glance over toward his father and Nathalie and was surprised to see amusement on the woman's face while his father wore the cold calculating expression that Adrien kind of hated.

"Okay," Marinette said, smiling.  "This is all in your skill set, just pretend you aren't wearing the nastiest clothes designed in our lifetimes."

Adrien giggled.

"Do you remember what you did for the Dark of Night line?" she asked, referring to one of the Gabriel winter lines.  They'd been going for darkness and the allure of mystery, the forbidden, and the taboo, without actually doing anything offensive.

Adrien nodded eagerly.  Why hadn't his father just said that's what he wanted?  As he'd moved to more adult shoots, with more allure and mystique, he'd found that channeling his superhero self really helped him bring out what passed for society's images of brooding sex appeal. 

"That's exactly the look they're going for." She reached out and touched his hair in a few spots. "Vincent will tell me where he wants you, and I'll let you know what to do.  Got it?"

He nodded. With her calling the shots, he was now totally confident that he could do this.  For the next half hour, Marinette called out poses, motions, and actions. She asked for expressions and told him where to direct them, at the camera, off to the side, or at her.  Vincent was clearly in his element, snapping shot after shot, all while murmuring happily.

In no time, he was back in the trailer, changing.  He'd gotten dressed quickly and poked his head out. "You want to come in? I just need to take off my makeup, then we can go.  I owe you lunch, at the very least."

"Want help with the makeup?" she asked, hopping up the steps.

"Oh… you don't have to…" God did it sound nice though.  That was probably weird. Again.

"But I want to," she insisted.  "Someone else taking off your makeup for you is like a super cheap virtual spa moment."

He sat in the chair and pushed the packet of makeup wipes toward her.  "I could use a spa moment."

He closed his eyes, listening to the crinkling package and her breathing.  The wipe was cool and her touch was almost more of a caress, just firm enough to do the job.  She took care when wiping his eyes, tweaking the tip of his nose. As she moved over his cheek, he couldn't help himself, and he pressed his face more firmly into her hand, the way he had when he was Chat Noir, blissed out on catnip.

They both froze.

Dammit.  He wasn't Chat Noir right now.  He couldn't just do things like that.  She was too smart. "Uh, you're right." He coughed to clear his throat.  "That felt really nice."

"Open your eyes, Adrien," she said quietly, her hand resting still on his cheek.

He sighed and obeyed, the desire to make her happy far stronger than the fear of what he'd see.

She took his face in both hands, her fingertips tracing along his skin exactly where his mask lay when he was Chat Noir.  After a moment, her searching expression slowly morphed into joy. "Oh," she whispered. "There's my good Kitty."

**Author's Note:**

> There will be one more BAMF Marinette story, appearing on Day 8. 
> 
> Catachresis/catachrestical - to misuse a word or use a forced/paradoxical figure of speech
> 
> For those curious about the inspiration on Adrien's awful beach apparel, [it's the top picture here.](https://trendcouncil.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/mens-ss16-vivienne-westwood/)


End file.
